Explore the Musser Mansion and hear the stories of Laura Musser McColm, her family and her domestic servants. A member of the Muscatine Art Center staff will you guide you through each room of the house, explain the various collections and furnishings on display and answer your questions.

Guided mansion tours will be offered at 5:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. The guided tour on March 6th marks the debut of this program. Reservations are not required - just drop in and enjoy!

Admission for the tours is by donation. The suggested donation amount is $5 per person. The tour will last approximately 45 minutes.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Paintings from the Mississippi River Collection

• The Mary Musser Gilmore Collection of French Impressionism

• Painted and Photographic Portraits of the Musser Family and a Sculpted Bust of Laura Musser as a Child

• Listen to Historic Music Boxes

• Collection of Historic Toys

EVENT DETAILS:

What: Muscatine Art Center's Guided Mansion Tour

Who: Hosted by Muscatine Art Center Staff

When: Thursday, March 6, 2014

Time: 5:30-6:15 PM

Where: The Muscatine Art Center

Admission to this program is FREE. Suggested donation of $5 per person.

Please contact, Melanie Alexander, Director, with any questions or concerns at 563-263-8282 or by email at malexander@muscatineiowa.gov.

The Muscatine Art Center is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM, Thursday from 10 AM to 7 PM and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 PM Admission is FREE.

The Muscatine Art Center will open its new exhibition, The Art of Living Well, on Thursday, November 7^th with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. The Art of Living Well is an opportunity to showcase the Art Center's permanent collection while exploring some of the principles from the Blue Zones Project™.

Muscatine is among ten communities in Iowa that have been chosen as Blue Zones Project demonstration sites. The purpose of the Blue Zones Project is to encourage principles that make it possible for people to live longer, healthier and happier lives. The Art of Living Well is presented in five sections - Work, Play, Relax, Belong and Eat. Visitors will explore each of these sections and discover examples of "move naturally," "know your purpose," "down shift," "loved ones first," "right tribe," "plant slant" and other core principles of the Power 9^®.

"The approach to this exhibition is somewhat different from the way art exhibitions are often organized," says Director, Melanie Alexander. "The staff was challenged to find examples of people spending time in nature, gathering with friends, being physically active. The Art Center's collection of photographs, paintings, drawings, artifacts, postcards and other objects is full of examples of people in the past leading active lifestyles."

"In this exhibition, we put together works by well-known artists such as Grant Wood, John Bloom and John Steuart Curry to be displayed next to photographs of families picnicking, ice skates from the 1870s, Musser family scrapbooks and advertisements from the Muscatine Oatmeal Company. The Art of Living Well showcases the Art Center's collection of original art and historic artifacts."

The Art Center recently received a grant from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs that will make it possible to provide a variety of experiences for elementary through high school students when they tour the exhibition. The Art of Living Well is intended to re-enforce some of the healthy eating initiatives of the school district. While at the Art Center, 1^st grade students will use collage materials to create a healthy meal; 4^th graders will make prints from fruits and vegetables; 6^th graders will make fruit and vegetable still lifes in the style of Grant Wood. Visitors will also imagine themselves in a painting or photograph and carry out the movements of the people depicted.

"We hope that students will be attracted to the colorful depictions of fruits and vegetables and will enjoy thinking about what people in the past did to keep physically activity, relax or connect with one another."

The Art of Living Well runs from November 7, 2013 through June 15, 2014. Hand-outs and pledge forms for the Blue Zones Project will be available as part of the exhibition. Families can also put together a picnic using toy fruits and vegetables.

The Muscatine Art Center is located at 1314 Mulberry Avenue in Muscatine, Iowa. Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday evenings until 7:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. Donations are appreciated.

Muscatine Art Center to Present a Free Concert

The Muscatine Art Center is pleased to present a free concert to take place in the recently dedicated, E. Bradford Burns Performing Arts Park. "Kim Wiseman & Friends" will be the first group to perform in this space on Sunday, October 13^th from 2 to 4 p.m. Kim Wiseman-Johnson is the lead vocalist with Mark Johnson on guitar, keyboard and vocals, and Mayor DeWayne Hopkins on drums. Other local musicians may join in the fun. The group performs older hymns and contemporary Christian music.

The public is invited to bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on. In case of rain, the concert will be moved to the Art Center's Music Room. Don't miss this opportunity to see Mayor Hopkins perform!

The E. Bradford Burns Performing Arts Park is located at 1402 Mulberry Avenue, one lot up from the Musser Mansion at former site of the Henry Jayne House. The original brick foundation of the house has been adapted to serve as a performance space.

Visitors are also encouraged to view the exhibition, "A Journey Down River: Celebrating the 75^th Anniversary of the Great River Road," which closes on October 27, 2013.

For more details, contact the Muscatine Art Center at 563-263-8282.

The Muscatine Art Center is located at 1314 Mulberry Avenue in Muscatine, Iowa. Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday evenings until 7:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. Donations are appreciated.

JULY 16, 2013

The public is invited to join the Muscatine Art Center in welcoming Carol Ehlers, art history speaker, as she presents a 45 minute lecture on Impressionism and its influence on 19th Century modernity and fashion. The lecture will take place Thursday, July 25 at 5:30 pm in the Muscatine Art Center's Music Room. Admission is free.

From the mid-1860's to the 1880's, Paris was emerging as the style capital of the world, just when the artists who called themselves the Impressionists gained notoriety within the artistic community. The Impressionists, with their love of movement, color and light, and contemporary life, set out to capture modern life in its elemental form. This "snapshot" of society included all the nuances of the day; most specifically the fashions and trends of the time.

The mid-1880's saw the rise of the department store and the increasing presence of the fashion magazine- a possible reflection upon the pastimes of the bourgeoning society in Paris, from the operatic and yachting scenes to views of the Siene River. The Impressionists were keen to represent the sordid underworld of the glitzy Paris above, often depicting women in the cabarets dancing the Can-Can and the Bolero, with their ruffled skirts and plumed hairpieces, as well as the patrons in raggedy clothes in back rooms of the taverns sipping Absinthe. Their clothing, though not as opulent as those who frequented the ballets (another favorite subject of the Impressionists, most notably Edgar Degas), nonetheless reflected the ever changing fashion of the day.

Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity is the name of the world-traveled exhibit that has now made its way to its final stop at the Art Institute of Chicago, after having been realized at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
After having visited the exhibit in Chicago, our speaker Carol Ehlers will use the exhibit in Chicago as a starting point to her discussion about the French Impressionists and their influence on modern society and fashion in mid-19th century Paris.

In 1992 the Muscatine Art Center's collections were significantly enriched by a gift of twenty-seven works of art by Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Degas, Boudin, Chagall, Renoir, and other European artists. The collection was a gift from the estate of Mary Musser Gilmore in honor of her parents, Richard Drew Musser and Sarah Walker Musser. The paintings are on permanent display in the Laura Musser Mansion.

MUSCATINE ART CENTER

1314 Mulberry Avenue, Muscatine, IA 52761    563-263-8282

www.muscatineartcenter.org